


Identity

by MiniNephthys



Category: 1bitHeart (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, POV Second Person, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 18:50:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4931188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This particular situation isn’t one of those you’ve seen other people deal with, though.  You try to approach the problem from both sides of the equation, reduce it to its basic components.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Identity

Sometimes, you can fake the part of you that’s missing.

Not for very long. Anyone who stays around you for more than a few conversations inevitably realizes that there’s something very wrong with you, no matter if you try to hide it or not. They always leave you behind soon after that.

But you’re observant when you are around people, and you see more than just numbers. Over the years you’ve picked up on how ‘normal’ people behave in certain situations, and that’s how you behave, too, because you don’t want your weirdness to bother anyone.

This particular situation isn’t one of those you’ve seen other people deal with, though. You try to approach the problem from both sides of the equation, reduce it to its basic components.

Nanashi is Mikado Aisaka’s younger cousin. Therefore, as a responsible older cousin, he should care for him and give him a role model to look up to.

Nanashi is Yoshi Nanase’s past self. There is nobody Nanase thinks as little of or cares less about as himself.

You are both Mikado Aisaka and Yoshi Nanase. Even if the former is a name you assumed, the identity is no less real. The question at hand is how much influence each has over you in your daily life.

In the end, you let Nanashi make your decision for you the first time he looks up to you with sparkling eyes and calls you his brother.

In that moment, you realize the person called ‘Mikado Aisaka’ could not treat Nanashi poorly, not for a moment. And you’re Mikado, the doting older cousin who will look after Nanashi as long as it doesn’t interfere with your other purposes.

That’s why you pat him on the head instead of pushing him away. To Mikado, it’s only natural.

* * *

Much later, Nanashi asks you, “What should I be calling you, future me?”

You smile. “When have we ever cared what people call us?”

“Good point!” He chuckles, but then turns serious again. “But, it’s hard to think of you just as my future self when I’ve changed into a different person. I’d like to call you Mikado, still, but… Mikado doesn’t really exist, does he?”

“That isn’t true.” The firmness with which you say that surprises you both. “Mikado Aisaka is a real person.”

“Eh? But Misane-chan said she didn’t know any Mikado in her timeline, though?”

“He wasn’t real, in the future,” you clarify. “He might have been a disguise at first. But the things I did with you were real, and the things I said to you, as Mikado Aisaka… Those are my true feelings. The name might be something I created off the top of my head, but Mikado is me, and I am him. By now, there’s no point distinguishing between the two of us.”

It might have been confusing, but Nanashi seems to follow your train of thought. “I’m glad, big bro.”

He hugs you, and you lightly pat his head. It’s only natural.


End file.
